afterlife

Noun

afterlife (plural afterlives or (rare, proscribed) afterlifes)

1. A conscious existence after death; a supernatural life that follows one's natural life, in some worldviews.
   • Many religious people believe in an afterlife.
   • Read in euery Starre, and let the Moone be your Candle to doe it, the prouident disposition of God, the eternitie of your after-life.1614, Thomas Adams, “The Sinners Passing-Bell”, in The Devills Banket, London: Ralph Mab, page 219

   Synonyms:

   life after death, hereafter, eternal life

   Antonyms:

   forelife, beforelife

2. The place believed to be inhabited by people who have died.
   • You'll reunite later, somewhere in the afterlife.
   • There were human cultures that taught an afterlife of the blessed on mountaintops or in clouds, in caverns or oases, but she could not recall any in which if you were very, very good when you died you went to the beach.1985, Carl Sagan, chapter 20, in Contact, New York: Simon and Schuster, page 361

   Synonyms:

   afterworld

3. (countable, informal, uncountable) The part of a person's life that follows a particular stage or event; later life.
   • They say that life begins at 40, but right now I'm more interested in the afterlife that begins at 65!
   • Those Favorites as it is their first care, to hold up themselves in that height of grace, so alwayes make it their second endeavour to raise Estates, to get Offices and governments, that if they doe remove from that height of favour, yet they may still retaine some happy monument of their former...1631, John Barclay, chapter 13, in The Mirrour of Mindes, London: Thomas Walkley, page 120

   Synonyms:

   aftercareer

4. The effects of a person's actions, or their reputation, after death.
   • The philanthropic endowment that she bequeathed gave her an ongoing afterlife.
   • […] poor poverty and birth, can be no hindrance to natural wit, for natural wit, in a poor Cottage, may spin an after-life, enter-weaving several colour’d fancies, and threeds of opinions, making fine and curious Tapestries to hang in the Chambers of fame,1662, Margaret Cavendish, The Several Wits, Scene 34, in Playes, London: John Martyn et al., p. 111
5. The events or situations that result from a particular event; the later reception, consumption or reworking of something, especially a cultural production such as a film, book, etc.
   • The 1970s TV show M*A*S*H had a long afterlife in syndication.
   • The history of the great works of art tells us about their antecedents, their realization in the age of the artist, their potentially eternal afterlife in succeeding generations.1969, Harry Zohn (translator), “The Task of the Translator” in Illuminations by Walter Benjamin, New York: Schocken Books, p. 71

   Synonyms:

   aftercareer, aftermath

   Antonyms:

   history